That's the Book: MalachiWe just got home from a walk down to the local park. My kids rode bikes, my spouse played with his new drone and I held my breath when my eldest hung upside down from the parallel bars. I let my kids climb trees and scamper over larger rocks. I really try not to panic or over react. I want to raise brave and tough people. But my hearts stops a bit when they hang upside down. It isn't the view I expect and the consequences of falling are high. Malachi was the last prophet to the people of Israel before the New Testament. He spoke about 100 years after the people had returned to Israel from their captivity in Babylon. The book involves a conversation between the people asking questions - oh let me be blunt - they were whining and complaining - and then God's response. They wondered when God loved them. Where was He in the midst of their hardship? Why did they suffer? Malachi covers a wide range of issues. Justice, marriage, tithing, the priesthood. Basically corruption and unfaithfulness were again (still?) the norm of the day. You know. Sin. Same answer. It's the reason for the pain. It's what bound people's hearts and broke their society. Crud. Nothing changes. But I think Malachi is interesting in the context of being the last word before the long 400 year silence before the Messiah came. Watch what happens. "You have wearied the Lord with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of Justice?" Malachi 2: 17 The people had their truth upside down. Good was bad and evil was celebrated. Power, lust, anger, financial gain and oppression were rewarded. So the people were a mess and needed help and were angry at the One who could do something about it. God's response? "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come,' Says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears" For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap." Malachi 3:1-2 When I'm annoyed or fed up with my kids or my spouse my first reaction is to shut down and pout. And then the quiet voice of God speaks to my soul and reminds me that love doesn't cut and run. He whispers about how when the world needed help He dove in. Deep water in. Love does not disengage. Love gets in the mess. It fights to get clean. Sometimes I listen. Works best when I do. When my inside governs what happens on my outside my family benefits. Inside Out. "On the day when I act," says the Lord Almighty, "they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him." Malachi 3:17 See. Last word is that God will spare the people just like a father spares his son. Only in this case God saved the people BY sacrificing his son who served him. You see right? Jesus the promised Messiah came into the mess and poured himself out on the fire as the sacrifice. God's economy is frequently upside down and backwards. The foolish things teach the wise. The perceived as weak things like love and forgiveness can break the powerful and mighty. God's message to His people was I am coming to fix what you broke. He took the consequences of our fall. Upside Down and Inside Out. ResourcesDoes your marriage need help???Marriage is hard sometimes. Wow baby. Malachi wasn't kidding about the importance of your marriage. "The man who hates and divorces his wife," says the Lord, the God of Israel, "does violence to the one he should protect," says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful." Malachi 2:16 If you are wading through one of those heavy dark rains will you consider getting help. Marriage Team in Vancouver, WA is a great option. Marriage couching with another couple can offer a new way to respond. Visit their website HERE. Tithe? What in the world is Tithe?Malachi has some clear instruction on tithing. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test time in this"says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3: 10 I didn't have space to cover this but I love the section of Malachi on tithing. It's one of the only places in the Bible where God says "Go ahead and test me on this one." Kinda fun. If you need some background or help in your finances or wonder what tithing looks like in your budget check out Dave Ramsey's article on tithing HERE. Need more info?Last book of the Old Testament. Wonder why it matters? Check out the Bible Project's Read Scripture YouTube for their overview. Educational, great graphics and intriguing.
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i helped with a slumber party last night. Great group of girls. So much fun. I'm gonna need a bath and a nap later. What exhausts you? What revives you? Comment on Facebook, Ywitter, Instagram or the website to be entered on today's drawing.
Its Quirky Faith"s birthday coming up! Prize a day in June!! One of the very best books of all time. Read a review HERE which appeared on The Wall of Faith.
I'm going to give this book to someone who has NEVER read it. BECAUSE YOU NEED TO. If you haven't read this book then post a comment admitting to the fact and you'll be entered to win. If you know someone who hasn't read this book you can email me at mindy@quirkyfaith.com and I'll add their name to the contest drawing too. Maybe we can encourage the world to read The Hiding Place. It would be a better for it. You could win this darling reminder to embrace your life. I'd like to know what you consider Amazing!! Post in your comments. Keep in mind for me Amazing!! could be a trip to London or simply the fact that last week I wore white capri jeans all day long and I didn't spill anything on them. AMAZING.
Amazing is next week I get to see friends from Rwanda. That Petal to Plant just biked over 3 mountain passes to raise money for church plants around the world. Amazing is Open House Ministries just broke ground on their new building. The grace of God. My daughter's grin. My husband's servant heart. A friend's loyalty. What else? Post in the comments here on the webpage, on Instagram, or Twitter and you'll be entered to win. The Giveaway today is a gift card to Peet's Coffee. Yum! I'll be drawing a winner from the Quirk E-Mail list. Not signed up yet? You can do so HERE.
I would LOVE it if you would share this post with your friends. The more the merrier. Thank you. Ok seriously I am done with spelling tests and practicing piano and checking off lists. I'm ready for summer and play!! Today's prize is a 10 pack of Play-Doh to get you set for summer. I'm drawing the winner from comments on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and the Quirky Faith website. What I want to know is what you are going to do to play this summer? You can list links to great ideas, photos or your own ideas. Ready? Set. Play!!
I love a blank notebook. Lists and ideas and sketches and recipes and quotations random thoughts. One of my favorite things is a brand new blank notebook. You could win this darling pineapple notebook. To enter, post something you'd write in if you win. It can be a quotation, recipe, Bible verse, sketch. Post in comments on website, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and I will draw a winner from the entries tomorrow.
Prize a day in June! Oh and I should mention I will only mail to an address in the United States. That's the Book: Zephaniah
It took me a while to write this post. First I got lost in my news feed. The protests in Portland are an angry wreck of a mess. Then I finally kicked in and researched what I was supposed to reading.
Zechariah. Found an amazing sermon. Stayed on task and wrote. Saved. Supposedly. I went back to add some photos and guess what? All my words were gone. HA HA HA HA. Blogging. What a funny game. Let me be honest. There is entirely too much going on in the book of Zechariah for this blog post to do any sort of justice to the book. Even in a second rewrite. The 10,000 mile up view is that Zechariah was a prophet to the refugees returning to Israel from the captivity in Babylon. It contains nine dreams of symbolic prophecy, some sections of history and several poems. If you only have time today to read one message on Zechariah quit reading my blog right now and make it Charles Spurgeon's 1877 sermon on Zechariah chapter 9. One of the factors to this blog taking me forever to write is the time I spent reading it, tweeting excerpts and generally bullying my family to read the sermon. Go now. Read it. You didn't listen did you? Okay. Here you go. First excerpt from Spurgeon's sermon. Dear Heart, if you are lying in Giant Despair’s castle, if you have been beaten with his crab tree club till every bone in your body is sore and your heart is ready to break, this is the key which will open every lock in Doubting Castle if you can but use it-- I can get stuck there. Despair and Doubt. They are fancy schmancy castles. They host amazing rhetoric. Decent pastimes. Lots of people who agree. Have you ever been a resident? Body sore and heart ready to break? I think the people in Portland today might identify. The people in Israel who Zechariah was sent to give a message certainly knew what despair looked like. Prison too.
One of the themes of the book of Zechariah is God was not pleased with how they were treating each other.
This is what the Lord Almighty said; Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other. But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry. Zechariah 7:8-12 Um. Stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. God might not be impressed with us either. Ya think?
Do you know how to get this done? How to get the keys to the Castles of Despair and Doubt?
As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zechariah 9:11-12 Oh. I want to be a prisoner of hope. Permanently aligned with love and grace. Spurgeon's sermon continued. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin —even we guilty sinners who have so much sin to be cleansed from! Believing in this Truth, trusting in Jesus, we are “accepted in the Beloved.” How gloriously God has brought some of us forth! We are not now in the pit wherein is no water. We are forever set at liberty and our heart leaps at the very sound of Jesus’ name!" We are no longer in the pit where there is no water. We have the keys to the prison. If you've been yelling don't be like the people of Israel who refused to listen. Zechariah had some news you should hear. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be only one Lord, and his name the only name. Zechariah 14:9 Here's the truth. I have no ability to save anything. Clearly even saving my own blog posts is beyond my ability. My words are worth nothing. But Jesus? He is the Word. He can set you free. Permanently. Become a prisoner of hope. Resources
Here are your resources. You're going to learn a ton and be encouraged if you put a little time in. Watch the Bible Project's Walk Through. Read Charles Spurgeon's sermon. Scroll below. Read the book.
I love when I can sign a worship song and can sing lyrics I recognize from Bible reading.
Chris Tomlin's Whom Shall I Fear? God of Angel Armies.
I liked this book. Brave women. Beautiful story.
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About MeI love Jesus. I think my two daughters can change the world. I think you can too. Past Posts
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